Now I'm sure some of you are probably wondering why I would suggest reading half of the article on the Tarrasch Variation when we have a game involving the Exchange Variation, like this is some kind of cross contamination. The reason is simple. In the French Defense, while White has four main options after 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5, namely 3.Nc3, 3.Nd2, 3.e5, and 3.exd5, the ideas behind the four main lines are not mutually exclusive, and often times ideas from one line trickle into games resulting from other lines. This game, we'll be seeing ideas from the Exchange Variation, the Tarrasch Variation, and then for most of the second half of the game, if you came into the room for the first time at that moment and saw the board, you'd probably never guess the opening was a French at all to begin with.
So that said, let's take a look at the feature game.
2018 Carolinas Classic, Round 5
W: Arya Kumar (1945)
B: Patrick McCartney (2049)
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.Bd3 Bd6 5.Nf3 Nf6 6.O-O O-O 7.Bg5 Bg4 8.c3 c6 9.Nbd2 Nbd7 10.Qc2 Qc7 11.h3 Bh5
Up to this point, the game is exactly the same as the game shown in Section 2 of the Exchange Variation article written in September of last year.
12.Nh4
White figures that whether it be due to lack of a more productive move or being forced to do so if White ever plays g4, the Black Bishop will at some point have to go to g6, and White is ready to chop it off. That said, possibilities of an upcoming Nf5 by White also has to be considered.
12...Rfe8 13.Rfe1
If White tries to play 13.Nf5 immediately, Black can force the White King further away from the center and follow up with exchanging Dark Squared Bishops via 13...Bh2+ 14.Kh1 Bf4.
13...Bg6
Black contests the battery that White has on the b1-h7 diagonal. It is critical to note that the only reason this is possible is because Black never played ...h6, unlike White's playing of h3. This is where asymmetry starts occurring and this is where the game really begins.
14.Nxg6 hxg6 15.Nf3 Bf4
Black offers his good Bishop in order to eliminate White's Bishop pair. Note that here, unlike the situation after 13.Nf5, it is ineffective for Black to flick in the check first because the King can go to f1 rather than h1 since the Rook has moved to e1.
16.Bxf4 Qxf4 17.b4
White starts trying to execute something similar to the Minority Attack in the Carlsbad Pawn Structure, a pawn structure commonly seen in the Exchange Queen's Gambit Declined, but also crops up at times in other openings like the Nimzo-Indian Defense. The downside here though compared to the Carlsbad structure is that with White having a c-pawn instead of an e-pawn, the pawn on c3 and the c4-square both become fairly week, and if White ever advances c4, then White is looking at an Isolated Queen Pawn. The isolated pawn is not the end of the world, but it tends to get weaker the more pieces that are traded off. Two sets of minor pieces are already eliminated, and so therefore, Black decides that in order to maintain the weakness for White, it's time to take the Rooks off as well so that if White ever dares to advance the c-pawn, the d-pawn will be weakened.
17...Rxe1+ 18.Rxe1 Re8 19.Rxe8+ Nxe8 20.b5 Nef6 21.Nd2
In this position, White offered a draw. Do you take it?
Let's look at the position and assess the specifics about the position. First off, I don't like White's last move at all. The Knight moves to a more passive square, blocking the Queen away from going to the open file. In addition, what was the purpose of b4 and b5 if you are not going to take on c6. By playing 21.bxc6 bxc6, White saddles Black with the same weak c-pawn and isolated a-pawn that White himself has. The other move that White could consider would be 21.a4. So far, it sounds like Black should not be accepting any draw offers from White.
But what specifically should Black do? Well, the first thing to recognize is that White's move places two minor pieces on the d-file and that the White Knight is three squares away from the d5-pawn. This is a very similar pattern to that of the Tarrasch Variation. So from that angle, it sounds like Black should be ok with an IQP on d5, which brings up the candidate move of 21...c5. However, we need to look at the consequences of this move.
The first thing to consider is that a lot of material is traded off, and so saddling yourself with an IQP is not a good idea if there is no legitimate follow up and all you are going to do is enter a worse endgame, particularly once the Queens come off. Well, that's one negative aspect, but let's look at what Black has going for him with this move.
First, Black controls the squares g6, f5, and e4. Therefore, by playing the move 21...c5, Black actually poses a major threat in 22...c4, knocking the Bishop away to a very passive position on e2 or f1. Sure, the Bishop will be able to get into the game eventually, but Black always has an active Queen, and the Knights are headed into White's camp next. Black would have a major advantage.
Therefore, the only real critical response is for White to 22.dxc5. When Black recaptures via 22...Nxc5, what moves might White consider? First there is re-activating the Knight. How can White do that? Well, he can try 23.Nb3, but then 23...Nxd3 24.Qxd3 Qa4 leaves White tied up and he's going to have a very hard time keeping his Queenside from falling apart. He can try 23.Nf3, trying to blockade with an upcoming Nd4, but makes the Black-dominated square e4 even more dominant for Black, and he will plop a Knight there with Black's pieces very well placed and White's not so much. Black can try to re-route the Knight via 23.Nf1 intending to go to e3 and pressure the isolated pawn, but this is very slow. White can try to play 23.f3, to avoid a Black Knight from coming into e4, but then the dark squares around the King are extremely weak with h3 also already pushed. A move like 23.g3 doesn't push the Queen out of action as she can simply go to e5 and White's King is further weakened. This leaves 23.c4 as the most critical response, threatening to win the d-pawn as there would be a discovery on the Knight on c5. But then you look at the position and see that Black has a very aggressive move, 23...Nfe4, that creates many problems for White. The f2-pawn is threatened. The Knight on d2 is threatened. Passive moves will just continue to give Black his way, and so White is almost forced to play 24.Nxe4, which Black can then respond with 24...dxe4, saddling White with the c4-weakness and giving Black a permanent outpost on c5 as the Bishop will never be able to contest that square. Black will also gain a tempo as White will be forced to retreat what will be a bad bishop in a passive position. Also note that if White takes on e4 via 24.Bxe4, the Knight on d2 doesn't have any great places to go either. That said, it might still be the lesser evil comparatively speaking to what happened in the game.
So therefore, seeing no good line for White, we decline the draw offer, and proceed with our plan of advancing the c-pawn.
21...c5!
And it turns out, all subsequent moves went exactly as planned above.
22.dxc5 Nxc5 23.c4 Nfe4 24.Nxe4 dxe4 25.Bf1
So our first mission has been acomplished. Now what? Well, the first thing to consider is that one of Black's pieces is not ideally placed. While the Queen looks active on f4, it does not coordinate well with the Knight on c5. For starters, it does not control d3, which is Black's likely entry point to the attack when he is ready. In addition, Black has to consider threats that White might have. For example, do we want White to own the only open file? It is often difficult to find retreating moves when you know that you have the initiative, but it turns out that Black's best move is exactly that, a Queen retreat.
25...Qd6!
Owning the only open file on the board.
26.Qc3 b6
Completely plugging up the Queenside until Black is ready to release it by moving the Knight.
27.Qe3 f5 28.Qa3 Qd7
There is nothing that White can do and so Black should be in no rush to take action and re-locate his King first to cover the only real weakness for Black on the board, the pawn on g6.
29.Qg3
This move was made possible by Black's last move, but where is the Queen coming into? b8? It may look active there, but the Queen and Knight do a good job of preventing anything useful by the White Queen by herself.
29...Kf7 30.Qf4 Nd3 31.Qe1 Qd6
Returning the Queen to her most useful square. What this maneuver did was allow Black to move his King from g8 to f7 and otherwise maintaining his position while White squirms around with the Queen. The other thing this move does is give Black tactical tricks if White tries to break the Black pawn chain.
32.f3
And trying to break the pawn chain is precisely what White does.
32...Qc5!
When White has one active piece and Black has two active pieces, the first thing Black wants to do is trade off White's only active piece, and this accomplishes exactly that.
33.Qxc5 Nxc5
And low and behold, how convenient that the Black Knight is back on his outpost where it will sit while Black gets the King and Kingside Pawns into the game. This is an absolutely miserable endgame situation for White to be in.
34.Kf2 Ke6 35.Ke3 Ke5
Black now threatens 36...f4+ and 36.f4 leaves White completely lost with both the worse minor piece and giving Black a protected passed Pawn. Therefore, White's next move is virtually forced.
36.fxe4 Nxe4 37.Bd3 Nc5 38.Bc2 Ne6 39.h4 f4+ 40.Kd2 g5 41.hxg5 Nxg5 42.Kc3 Ne6 43.Bb1 g5 44.Bc2 g4
Black has a major threat that White must be very careful about.
45.Bd3
45.Bd1?? loses instantly to 45...f3 46.gxf3 g3! 47.f4+ Kxf4 and the pawn cannot be stopped.
45...Nd4 46.a4 Ne6 47.Be2 g3 48.Kb4
This allows the Black King in and frees the duties of the Knight to stop the White pawn majority. That said, trying to sit put and toggle a piece doesn't work as Black threatens 48...Nd4 and 49...f3. The only way to stop it is putting the Bishop on f1, but that leads to other problems.
48...Kd4 49.a5 Nc5 50.axb6 axb6 51.Ka3 Kc3
Black also wins with 51...Nd3 52.Bxd3 Kxd3 53.c5 f3 54.cxb6 fxg2 55.b7 g1=Q 56.b8=Q g2, but why complicate the issue with Queens on the board?
52.Ka2 Kb4 53.Kb2 Ne6 54.Kc1 Nd4 55.Bf1 f3 56.gxf3 Nxf3 57.Kc2 g2
White must lose his Bishop to a Knight fork, or else allow Black to promote. The rest requires no comment.
58.Bxg2 Ne1+ 59.Kd2 Nxg2 60.Kd3 Kc5 61.Kc3 Ne3 62.Kb3 Nxc4 0-1
For a line of the French Defense that is normally thought of as being dull and drawish, a lot was required of Black to pull off this victory, including an understanding of IQP positions, deep calculations, the concept of the outpost, and executing the strong side of the "Good Knight vs Bad Bishop" ending. The next time you think that the Exchange French is drawish, and particularly symmetrical variations like this one was, remember games like this one and realize that while the odds of some spectacular sacrifice is not likely to happen, there is still a lot that can happen in these positions, and one of the biggest keys to success is understanding how and when to alter the pawn structure.
Till next time, good luck in all of your French games, Black or White.
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